Luke 6:43-49
43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. 48 They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”
2 Timothy 4:7
I Have Fought the Good Fight
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Jesus teaches us about the undercurrents and underpinnings of life and how time effects what we learn and how we live...What we learn over our lives, well takes a lifetime...And Jesus puts this in terms of goodness and evil on the things we learn over our lives...A tree that has deep roots, takes time to grow the roots deep and strong...And He teaches us that deep roots and strong foundations can produce good things that last...Over time trees get their deep roots and their strong trunks to solidify their foundation...
Goodness in man is like fruit...Each tree is recognized by its own fruit...These deep roots produce strong and fruitful trees...Goodness in man is also like a house with a strong foundation...A house can weather strong storms, but it takes a strong foundation to keep it standing...And strong foundations on houses produce houses that will last...So goodness, normally, does not happen in one day and by one single event or in a single instance...If one believes this then goodness normally just dos not come upon a group or person, and just all of a sudden...Goodness is more of a learned process and over different our individual experiences and often through our trials and troubles...And Jesus tells us that goodness can be seen in what we have learned over time in what we say and do...
Jesus says that no good tree can bear any fruit...A thorn bush cannot produce a fig...But a fig tree, can produce good figs, as an apple tree can produce nice red apples...Like a fruit tree, a good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart...A thorn bush cannot produce good figs, any more than an evil man can be good...For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of...Over one's life, we can see goodness through our experiences, even though we have had these storms of sufferings and trials...
For me, Jesus better explains the goodness of man over time in His wise and foolish parable...“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?...As for everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like...They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock...When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built...But the one who hears My words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation...The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”...
Jesus expects us to follow His teachings...Above Jesus says "I will show you what they are like."...Or He will show us what a man is like, over a time period, and after they have suffered through their storms in life...These things get stored up in one's spiritual heart...After a lifetime of different experiences, we get our foundations exposed...We really show who we are after our storms...If the exposed solid foundation is dug down deep and is still good, it is because we have followed His word...We were able to make it through our tough times...Our foundation gets exposed by our life's experiences of life, especially our storms...After a lifetime of experiences, it is like the good St. Paul who said, the good will have fought the good fight, they will have finished the race, they will have kept the faith...